Double Decker Turtles

Went to the Great Miami today before work. Looking down off the wall below the dam were a bunch of turtles on a rock. One little one had climbed right on top of a big one. I should have known it was going to be a wild day right then. Things started out a bit slow, with only a small catfish and a couple drum. But then some weight on the line. Not really a hit but instead the 1/4 ounce grub just felt heavy. I set the hook and was fast into a good fish. It ended up being a fish ohio sized sauger. Which had me pretty pumped up as I'd already caught three fish ohio sized fish of other species. Finally qualified for that master angler award! I was feeling pretty good about myself and caught a three or so pound shovelhead on the grub. About that time Dandrews did what he seems to do better than anyone, which is catch a big catfish on a lure. After a lengthy fight he landed this 35 inch fish. That red patch was a 2 inch square wound plus the eye on that side was milky white. I was going to make a joke about catching a blind fish but he's twice my size and the fish was as big as everything I'd caught put togethor so I decided not to. By then I was ready to eat and was leving for lunch when I heard a yell and he was fast into an even bigger one, around 37 inches if i remember right. I think thats the third trophy fish Ive taken his picture with already this spring BTW. After lunch I hit the other side of the dam for 20 minutes catching a goodsized quillback sucker and a small bass on the grub before heading in to work. A pretty exciting morning on the river

It's been a pretty good week. First took my 6 year old grandaughter fishing at Ceasars Creek. That's her first fish you see in the picture. It's name was Julie if I remember right. With Kally every fish goes in a five gallon bucket for a visit where she investigates it a momment or two and gives it a name before we turn it loose. A nine inch bluegill named Big Daddy was the best fish of the day. Definately one of the best trips of the year. Then next came the first of two trips to the Great Miami. Never really got into the smallies, I think they are still in a little bit of a post spawn funk but I did catch one that was a very lucky fish to be alive. The 11 inch smallie had a scaled line on each side where a big flathead had tried to have him for dinner but he escaped. A caught several channelcats on nightcrawlers along with a half dozen small drum total for the two trips plus two sauger on a jig. Today with the temps hitting the mid 80's it seemed like a good time to break out the belly boat for the first time this year. I took it to one of the state wildlife areas to hit a few ponds. The first I found seemed too shallow and I didn't fish the weed choked pond long before moving. Long enough though to pick up three leeches on my legs though! Then a much deeper large pond way off the road. Right away small bass hit my plastic worm every few minutes. Just about the time I thought that's all that was in there I set the hook and a big bass rocketed skyward. If you have never hooked a nice bass in a belly boat it's pretty exciting, they can tow you a bit and spin the tube around if they run past you, but I managed not to lose her. I ended up with about twenty small bass besides the one good one, all on a plastic worm. The odd thing was the fish hit best right in the heat of the day, the fish really turned off towards evening, right when you'd think it would be good. Just goes to show you can never tell whats going to happen when you go fishing...

Found a mayfly in the window of the trail center in Loveland while working there this weekend. I just had to put him under the wonderful microscope there to admire the amazing structure of those wings. It's something what a different world exists in minature all around us that for the most part we are oblivious to.

The Fowler Toad

Well we decided that after spending the winter with us that it was time to grant Scooter the garter snake his freedom. Scooter doubled in size over the winter eating pinkie mice but never really tamed down and was comfortable in his 20 gal aquarium. So while out fishing the Little Miami I found a toad hopping along on a rock bar. I dumped out a little plastic tupperware bowl I carry some things in my fishing pack with and he was homeward bound. Brenda put about three inches of dirt in the bottom of the aquarium, assorted plastc plants and big piece of bark for him to hid under. She also buried two plastic bowls nested inside each other to the rim in the dirt and filled them with water. The reason to have two nested is so its easy just to lift up the top one to change the water without disturbing the whole tank. So far Toad has instantly started eating crickets and hopping around, he seems much more comfortable than Scooter ever was. Today Brenda put a half dozen little feeder fish in his bowl it will be enteresting to see if he can catch them. Toad is a Fowler Toad, a bit less common than the Eastern American Toad which is Ohio's other species of true toad. When handled roughly Fowler's toads feign death and plays "possum." They may lay on its back with legs curved upward and may remain motionless for several seconds until the threat has passed. Toads have enlarged glands (called the paratoid glands) on the side of the neck, one behind each eye. These glands secrete a viscous toxin that gets smeared in the mouth of any would-be predator, inflaming the mouth and throat and causing nausea so it's important to take care to wash your hands after handling a toad, and to avoid touching the mouth or eyes until having done so. Other than that Toad is proving to be an active and enteresting guy to watch. Scooter we took to Fallsville Wildlife Area and released in the tall grass next to a pond. Plenty of food and tall grass to hide from hawks and other predators in. I set Scooter down in the grass and he coiled up before taking off. I bent down and nudged him a bit and BAM he bit me, then took off thru the grass...

The early bird gets the worm

With todays forcast closer to a typical august day rather than may I decide to get an early start on the days fishing. My goal for the day is to see if the smallies are biting yet on the Little Miami but first a pit stop at Caesar Creek lake to wait for daylight. Rigging my ultralight spinning rod with a light egg sinker, swivel, and hook, I bait up with nightcrawler in hopes of just catching anything. Right away I have a bite. It's a white bass, a bit of a surprise fishing on the bottom. Soon another run and I'm into a bigger fish. It's a nice carp, quite the battle on six pound test line. A few minutes later, another then another, all just about the same size. As the sky brightens in the east, it's off to the Little Miami. Almost right away a nice smallmouth nails my grub then hurtles skyward throwing the hook. A dandy fish too, better than any I ended up catching the rest of the morning. But average sized smallies hit regularly. Not fast and furious but ofton enough that I feel I'm catching fish rather than just fishing. I fish downstream to a bit of a secret spot I know. Here if you wade the river there is a steep bank that backs up to an abandoned gravel pit. The whole side of the pit facing the river has steep clifflike banks but I know a secret. In one spot a small gulley cuts down to the pit and if your carefull you can get down to the water. Ive never seen a trace of another person finding my little gulley,no footprints, no trash, no path. Here a shelf with a gravel bottom you can wade extends for about seventy yards of knee to waist deep water surrounded by very deep water. The water is perfectly clear and you can see the bottom in water over your head so the ultralight is perfect for here. For about an hour action is fast and furious most small largemouth with the rare smallmouth mixed in. But I do catch a couple fairly nice sized bass before the heat shuts down the fishing and I head for home.

Goldzilla

Was fishing my favorite hole in the Little Miami River for catfish when this guy hit a nightcrawler. He's not a koi, we used to have a pond with koi in it and he's not that. Body was just like a big carp but he was bright orange with black spots. Did a little google search and I guess goldfish can live over fifty years and in the right conditions never quit growing. Wikipedia says: "Goldfish can hybridize with certain other species of carp. Within three breeding generations, the vast majority of the hybrid spawn revert to their natural olive color." So then i tried to find photos of goldfish type fish bigger than this one and really didn't find alot.So untill somebody shows me proof I'm claiming the unofficial state record goldfish! Caught him right at dawn and in the dim light he looked wierd a big orange glow down in the water on the end of my line. I'd love to know how old this fish is. Not sure if I should have or not but I turned the fish loose so if your around the LMR keep an eye out for goldzilla. HMM, wonder if there is a fish ohio pin for goldfish I need one more species for that master angler pin... I did end up catching a big cat by the way,

Dark Skies

With the dark damp skies this morning I snuck out before work to a local gravel pit. Caught several smallish bass on a four inch senko type clear metalflake worm. Up in a small shallow bay lined about halfway with cattails I could see several swirls of bass chasing something in the shallows as I fished up that way. There were several large bullfrog tadpoles at each place I stopped to cast so I changed to a bigger ribbon tailed worm fish unweighted and caught this guy on about the fourth cast up into the shallows. Sigh...then off to %#$% work.